


Bullseye (Michael Clifford Target AU)

by gab_i



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 14:22:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2028333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gab_i/pseuds/gab_i
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Laney Wilson's mother gets reassigned to work in Sydney, Australia, Laney never thought her life would change as much as it did. She assumed she would take a year off before heading to college, maybe get a job and save up some money, but it never once crossed her mind that Sydney would become her final destination. Laney assumed she and her mother would be in and out. It was just a year, after all. </p><p>How attached could she get?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bullseye (Michael Clifford Target AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So here’s the first chapter! I really hope you guys enjoy this fic. I’m so excited to write it and receive your feedback, so please feel free to let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is very welcome! I’ll try to update pretty regularly, but no promises. That’s about it. I hope you enjoy it!!

The November warmth was shocking as Laney walked from the bus stop to the Target a block down the road. She was still in the Seattle mindset: ready to bundle up as much as she could to set foot outside. But, obviously, Sydney was different.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and it was a warm 72 degrees—Fahrenheit, that is. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever adjust to the whole Celsius thing. How could 22 degrees mean she didn’t need a sweater? Twenty-two degrees means frozen everything, and here she was breaking a mild sweat just walking down the street. It made no sense.

Laney walked through the automatic doors, the nerves she had tried to shove down all morning starting to tickle her insides. The store was pretty much empty. A few people were pushing around carts filled with random items, and only two of the seemingly endless checkout lines were open. As Laney walked toward the customer service desk, she spotted a few employees milling around. They all looked helplessly bored.

Trying to ignore the nerves and dread twisting around in her stomach, she approached the customer service desk and found her new supervisor, Courtney, flipping through an old issue of People Magazine and smacking a large, pink wad of Bubbalicious Bubblegum.

Laney stood at the counter for a moment, the nerves making her mind go blank. She hadn’t seen Courtney since their first meeting at her interview the week prior. Thankfully, the girl looked up before she had to say anything. Courtney’s face split into a large grin as she dropped the magazine onto the counter.

“Laney!” the girl exclaimed, still smacking her gum. “You came!”

Courtney came around the counter to give the girl a hug. Why wouldn’t I come? Laney thought to herself as Courtney hugged her as if they’d been friends for ages. It was her very first day of work, and, even though she was dreading the thought of spending her year off in a scratchy red polo and khakis, she wanted to do a good job.

“Oh my gosh I’m so excited to finally get another girl around here! I mean, there’s Janice and Margaret, but they don’t really count, you know?” Courtney went on to explain about how judged she felt whenever she tried to talk to them. How is she supposed to be friends with people she can’t gossip with? “Anyways, let’s grab your uniform and then I’ll walk you around to meet everyone.”

Courtney continued chewing her gum through a peppy smile, waiting for a response from the girl. Laney mustered a slightly delayed nod and a weak smile that, looking back on it, probably just made her look like she had indigestion.

Courtney chattered away, hands gesticulating excitedly, as she turned and began heading toward stock room. Laney followed quickly, having to take two steps for every one of Courtney’s. Laney’s short frame had never really been a useful asset, and it wasn’t really proving to be one here either.

They reached the stock room, and Courtney pushed the doors open to reveal three boys playing cards around a white foldable table. None of them looked up as the two girls entered.

“Suck it!” a raven-haired boy shouted as he slapped the pile of cards sitting in the middle of the table. The other boys groaned as he added them to his deck. “You know guys it really is hard winning like this all the time—“

“Oh shut up,” replied one of the blond boys. His hair was longer than the other boy’s, and, as he talked, two dimples appeared at the sides of his mouth. “You haven’t won, you just slapped a double. And there weren’t any face cards in that pile anyways.”

They continued bickering until Courtney, still smiling, cleared her throat. All three boys looked up, their eyes glancing from the supervisor then to Laney. They were silent as they drank her in, eyes scanning over her face, down her body, then back up again. Needless to say, a red flush crept up Laney’s neck to her cheeks, painting her skin a faint shade of red.

The boy who had just been speaking pushed his chair out from the table as he stood up and walked over to Laney.

“I’m Ashton,” he said, a smile lighting up his features and poking in his dimples.

He stretched his hand out for her to take. “Laney,” she responded, trying to hide a wince as he gripped her hand a little too tightly. Ashton released her hand and, still smiling, returned to his seat.

The other two boys stayed seated but introduced themselves as Luke and Calum. Courtney’s walkie-talkie beeped as she turned toward Laney.

“Courtney some lady just spilled her soda all over the floor near the fruit. Can you bring me a mop?” a man voiced monotonously through the speaker. Courtney sighed and threw her long blond hair over her shoulder, responding with a drawn-out “yes.”

“Calum,” she said, “can you get Laney her uniform and stuff?”

Calum filled his mouth with air, letting his cheeks balloon outwards before letting it go quickly. “Sure,” he responded, getting up from the table and beckoning for Laney to follow him. They entered a room marked “Employees Only” that contained numbers of cardboard boxes, a fridge, and a coffee machine. “What size are you?” Calum asked.

Laney’s cheeks, which had returned to their normal color, flushed even harder than they had before. “Wh-what?” she stuttered.

“Your size? You know, for your uniform?” he answered, gesturing toward the cardboard boxes.

“Oh uhh, well, it depends,” she responded, playing with the hem of her t-shirt.

Calum sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Uhh, okay well, the boxes are marked small, medium, you know, so you can just try stuff on until you find the right size.”

Laney nodded, her cheeks still flushed. “Is there a bathroom?” she asked, the heat radiating from her cheeks almost tangible.

“Yeah, there’s a staff bathroom through the door and to the right. You can change in there.” Laney nodded again as Calum brushed past her to head back into the stock room. “I’ll be out there if you need anything,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder and shooting her a closed-mouth smile before shouldering through the swinging, grey doors and heading back to his friends.

Laney let out a long sigh before searching through the cardboard boxes. Pulling out a polo and a pair of khakis from the box labeled “S”, she peaked her head out of the grey doors scanning from left to right before she spotted the only other door around. Laney knocked hesitantly before finding it vacant and entering.

She changed quickly only to find the shirt too clingy for her liking and the pants about five inches too long. Laney stole back to the break room quickly to grab a medium shirt, and once she was changed, walked back out to where the boys were.

They had resumed their game of cards, and Laney stood silently watching for a moment before Ashton noticed her presence. Looking up from the game, an amused smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “I think those pants might be a little long,” he giggled.

A faint blush colored Laney’s cheeks, and she couldn’t help but let out a little laugh herself. “Yeah, I’ll probably end up tripping over them all day,” she said, tugging at the side of them.

Ashton laughed again, and Laney couldn’t keep herself from smiling. He had just about the cutest laugh she’d ever heard. “Come here,” Ashton said, standing up and gesturing for Laney to follow him. They walked a little farther into the stock room until Ashton stopped at a seemingly random shelf and pulled down a box of paperclips. He shoved the box toward Laney. “You can fold the bottoms up and clip them. Might look a little weird, but it’ll keep you from tripping,” he added, scratching the back of his neck.

Laney took the box, eyeing him suspiciously. “How’d you think of that?” she asked.

“My mum would buy my pants extra long when I was going through growth spurts when I was younger, and she’d do that so I could just keep wearing them as I got taller. Not the most fashionable thing in the world, but it works.”

Laney felt a slow smile spread across her face as she looked up at him. “Thanks,” she said.

“No problem,” Ashton replied, mirroring her smile. They stood like that a moment longer until Calum was yelling for Ashton to get his butt back to their card game.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Ashton responded, laughing and turning back toward the boys. A blush tinted Laney’s cheeks as she ducked her head and followed him back. Sitting down in the extra chair as the boys resumed their game, Laney folded the bottoms of her pants so the extra fabric lined the inside and paper clipped them in place.

At the same moment she finished the other leg, Courtney walked back into the room. “Alright Laney, read to go meet everyone?”

“Uh, sure,” she responded, smoothing her shirt as she stood up from her chair.

As they walked toward the front of the store, Courtney chattered away about how Laney would get her name tag at some point in the next week and how corporate was breathing down her neck to improve traffic through the store, but she’s only 25 you know? How was she supposed to improve traffic if she’s not allowed to do any independent advertisement?

It was a bunch of gibberish to Laney, and it went straight through one ear and out the other. They approached two women standing at one of the checkout lines. “Laney, meet Janice and Margaret. They’ve been here for, like, ever.”

The two ladies each shot Courtney a bored and slightly annoyed look before smiling at Laney. They looked to be about the same age. Janice was short and slightly round with rectangular glasses and more gray hair than brown. Margaret was a few inches taller than her friend with hair so white it looked almost blue. She had a few wrinkles starting to pull at the corners of her eyes and mouth and eyes such a warm color of brown Laney couldn’t help but feel comfortable around her almost immediately.

“It’s nice to meet you, honey,” Margaret said, a sweet smile showing slightly yellowed teeth with a bit of pink lipstick that must’ve rubbed off at some point during her conversation with Janice.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Laney responded with a small smile. Janice was about to say something, but Courtney cut her off, saying a quick, “Okay see you guys later!” as she whisked Laney off.

Laney shot the two ladies an apologetic look over her shoulder as she was tugged away. They just clucked and shook their heads at Courtney before returning to their previous conversation.

“That’s John and Aiden,” Courtney said when Laney turned back around. She waved at the two guys watching them from the technology section. They made no effort to respond but continued to watch the girls with bored expressions as they walked toward the in-store restaurants. “They’re total drips,” Courtney muttered beneath her breath. “All they do is smoke weed. And if they aren’t doing that, they’re talking about it.”

Laney didn’t respond; just shot the two boys another look before they approached the Starbucks counter. A tall girl stood leaning over the counter scrolling through her phone.

“Hi Olivia,” Courtney strained through an obviously forced smile.

Olivia didn’t look up from her phone as she responded, “Hello Courtney.”

The supervisor sighed, letting her smile fall as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “This is Laney,” she said, unfolding one of her arms to gesture at the girl standing to her left. “She’s new here.”

Olivia looked up from her phone, glancing briefly at Courtney before looking over Laney. “Welcome to Hell,” the girl said as she reached out to shake her hand.

“Uh, thanks?” Laney said, unsure of how she was supposed to respond.

She accepted the girl’s handshake as Courtney scoffed. “Way to be welcoming,” she snapped, shooting daggers at Olivia.

“It is my specialty you know,” Olivia sighed, returning her attention to her phone.

“Oh, whatever.” Courtney began stalking haughtily toward the Pizza Hut counter. She stopped abruptly before she reached the counter, almost making Laney run into her. Courtney fluffed her hair and quickly ran her fingers under her eyes. “Is my makeup okay?” she whispered, turning to Laney quickly.

Dazed by her sudden change in attitude, Laney responded, “Uh yeah. Why?”

“Great,” Courtney chirped, walking toward the counter with an extra sway to her khaki clad hips. Confused, Laney turned to look at Olivia.

The girl’s grin would’ve put the Cheshire Cat to shame. “Oh, just watch,” she mouthed.

Still baffled, Laney followed her supervisor to the counter where she rested her chin in her palm and tried—but failed—to subtly push her chest out.

“Hi Michael,” she breathed, batting her eyelashes. Laney turned her attention to the boy in question and was taken aback by his tufts of bright purple hair. Michael barely looked up from his pizza, glancing at Courtney before returning to dumping Parmesan cheese onto the large pepperoni pizza in front of him.

“Hey,” he responded.

Not deterred at all by his reaction, Courtney continued batting her eyelashes. “How’s your lunch break going?” she asked, her voice still breathy and not anything like the tone she had just used with Olivia. Laney was dumbfounded by the girl’s ability to change her mood so quickly.

Michael looked up again. “Good,” he responded. “Who’s your friend?” he added a moment later, cutting Courtney off from her next question.

Courtney perked up at his show of interest, removing her head from her hand. Laney, judging by her reaction, assumed it was probably rare that he ever put much effort into his conversations with Courtney. “Michael, this is Laney. She’s the new employee I was telling you about.” Her smile faltered for a moment as his eyes roamed over Laney. If Laney hadn’t been so amazed at how fast Courtney recovered her expression, she probably would’ve blushed at his shift in focus.

“Oh yeah,” he murmured quietly, holding Laney’s eye contact. She blushed at the blatant attention, and, after a minute, Michael shot her a closed-mouthed smile before returning to coating his pizza in Parmesan cheese.

“Are you going to eat that entire thing?” Laney asked, the words leaving her mouth before she realized what she was saying. Her cheeks flushed an even deeper red as her words registered, and she wanted to bury her face in her hands. She probably matched her polo at this point.

Michael smiled, letting out a small laugh before answering her. “Any pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard enough.”

Laney couldn’t help but smile back at him.

A twinge of jealousy tugged at Courtney’s stomach as she saw Michael’s smile widen at Laney’s reaction. Before Laney could respond, Courtney jumped in. “Oh my gosh Michael, you’re so funny! Where do you come up with this stuff?” she insisted, leaning forward again.

Michael dragged his eyes to Courtney slowly before turning his focus right back to Laney. “Guess I’m just creative,” he said, a crooked smile tugging at the side of his mouth.

Laney, uncomfortable under his gaze, cleared her throat and turned to Courtney who was laughing a bit too loud at Michael’s last comment.

“So, Laney,—” Michael started, only to be cut off.

“Well, we should really start your training!” Courtney said, smiling brightly at Laney, her eyes wide and pleading for her to agree.

“Uh, yeah,” the girl replied.

“Well, off to work! See you around, Michael,” Courtney chirped, turning and walking away from the counter, over exaggerating the sway of her hips yet again.

Michael rolled his eyes before looking back at Laney. “Yeah. See ya.”


End file.
